Abortion failed for years to mobilize evangelicals before the IRS ruling

Evidence

But this hypothetical “moral majority” (lowercase letters) needed a catalyst, a standard around which to rally. For nearly two decades, Weyrich, by his own account, had been trying out different issues, hoping one might pique evangelical interest: pornography, prayer in schools, the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, even abortion. “I was trying to get these people interested in those issues and I utterly failed,” Weyrich recalled in 1990. — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 106

Categorization

• SHARE: A pointed retort for anyone who repeats the claim that Roe sparked the movement — direct quote from a founding strategist admitting abortion never mobilized evangelicals.
• XREF: connects to: Tax exemptions tied organized Christian resistance to IRS enforcement during desegregation — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 250; Evangelicals adopted anti-abortion politics six years after Roe for political gain — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 255; Politics, abortion, and school prayer failed for two decades to rouse evangelicals — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 104 (+12 more)

Related

• The IRS’s challenge to segregated schools, not abortion, birthed the Religious Right (similarity 0.91)
• 1978 pro-life upsets convinced Weyrich abortion could mobilize evangelical voters (similarity 0.89)
• The Religious Right adopted abortion only after racial segregation failed to rally voters (similarity 0.89)
• Politics, abortion, and school prayer failed for two decades to rouse evangelicals (similarity 0.88)
• Evangelicals adopted anti-abortion politics six years after Roe for political gain (similarity 0.88)
• The Religious Right needed a rallying issue besides racial segregation (similarity 0.87)
• The abortion myth obscures the segregationist origins of evangelical activism. (similarity 0.87)
• The Religious Right’s abortion politics predate Roe and were chosen for strategic reasons (similarity 0.86)
• The 1978 ‘insignificant number of minority students’ IRS rule was Weyrich’s rallying issue (similarity 0.86)
• IRS regulations topped evangelicals’ 1979 grievances against Carter while abortion went unmentioned (similarity 0.85)
• Early Moral Majority insiders confirm abortion was not its founding issue (similarity 0.85)
• The IRS’s Bob Jones revocation supplied Weyrich’s racial organizing issue (similarity 0.85)
• Abortion was not a key evangelical voting issue before 1979. (similarity 0.85)
• The religious right’s founding coalition was initially indifferent to abortion. (similarity 0.85)
• Tax exemptions tied organized Christian resistance to IRS enforcement during desegregation (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Politics, abortion, and school prayer failed for two decades to rouse evangelicals #corroborates (0.94) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 104
• Evangelical opposition to abortion was initially uncertain and politically constructed #expands (0.82) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 160
• Abortion was not a key evangelical voting issue before 1979. #corroborates (0.80) — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 246
• The IRS’s challenge to segregated schools, not abortion, birthed the Religious Right #expands (0.80) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 23
• Few evangelical voices spoke against abortion through most of the 1970s #corroborates (0.78) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 122
• The Religious Right’s founding narrative claims Roe v. Wade roused evangelicals from political passivity #complicates (0.78) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 89
• The Religious Right began as reaction to IRS desegregation of Christian schools. #expands (0.76) — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 312
• IRS regulations topped evangelicals’ 1979 grievances against Carter while abortion went unmentioned #contradicts (0.75) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 117
• The abortion myth obscures the segregationist origins of evangelical activism. #expands (0.72) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 166
• The 1978 ‘insignificant number of minority students’ IRS rule was Weyrich’s rallying issue #corroborates (0.70)